Study in grief

Mean Streets ****
The triple whammy of writer/director Martin Scorsese and actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel must have been quite something for unsuspecting audiences back in 1973 when Mean Streets, Scorsese's second feature, was made, and all three were unknowns. In fact, it still packs quite a punch today. Keitel is the (tortured Catholic) conscience of New York's Little Italy - Scorsese himself is Keitel's interior voice - while De Niro is the livewire Johnny, a buccaneer who owes money all over town and seems determined to get himself and his friend killed for it. It's the rawness of this talent hitting the streets in a story of love, friendship, violence and repression that makes the film so terrific.
Extras: Director's commentary and retrospective featurette with Scorsese, Keitel and De Niro.
Nina Caplan

Alice In Wonderland ***
If Lewis Carroll were alive to earn royalties from the endless film versions of Alice In Wonderland, his satire-disguised-as-achildren's-tale, he'd be a very rich man. William Sterling's 1972 version is neither the best nor the worst of the many adaptations. The 15-year-old Fiona Fullerton makes a pleasing Alice, Peter Sellers turns up as the March Hare, Dudley Moore makes a darling Dormouse, Spike Milligan is the Gryphon and Sir Ralph Richardson does duty as the Caterpillar. The conceit is that Alice falls asleep as Reverend Dodgson (aka Carroll) tells tall tales, but that's almost unnecessary: nobody needs a reason to enter Carroll's wacky, sarcastic Wonderland.
Extras: Accompanying book.
Nina Caplan